New White Sox starter Keuchel is used to the waiting game
Dallas Keuchel's early days with the White Sox were frequently obliterated by his old days with the Astros.
The coronavirus pandemic has taken much of the attention away from Houston's cheating scandal that tainted its 2017 World Series championship and spurred an uproar throughout the game.
A member of the Astros' starting rotation that season, Keuchel was the first player to apologize for the sign-stealing scandal, to a point.
"Was it against the rules? Yes, it was," Keuchel said. "And I personally am sorry for what's come about the whole situation. We're always going to be World Series champs because we were talented and, to me, we earned the right to be World Series champs.
"Just because stuff came out about the 2017 Astros doesn't mean other teams weren't doing illegal stuff. It just means we were the ones that were caught."
Signed by the Sox to a three-year, $55 million contract in December, Keuchel tried to change the Houston narrative shortly before COVID-19 shut down spring training on March 12, two weeks before the regular season was scheduled to open.
In a story first reported by USA Today, the 32-year-old lefty invited his new teammates, the rest of the organization and everyone's family members to dinner near the White Sox's training complex in Glendale, Ariz.
The total tab was in the $25,000 range.
"I don't know what made me do it," Keuchel said. "I haven't done anything like that before. I was originally thinking to have a dinner just for the pitchers and catchers. Then, I thought, 'Well, it's a new organization that really put a lot of thought into making this a playoff team, so why not get everybody in that clubhouse together?'
"I wanted to show the young guys, this is what a big-league spread is."
Before long, Keuchel is hoping to show all of the Sox what an established major-league starter looks like.
White Sox manager Rick Renteria never revealed the rotation order, but Lucas Giolito is the likely No. 1 starter followed by Keuchel.
Keuchel won the American League Cy Young Award in 2015 and also finished fifth in MVP voting after going 20-8 with a 2.48 ERA for the Astros.
The current layoff is going to hurt starting pitchers, but Keuchel should be able to handle it better than most of his peers.
Still a free agent at this time last year, Keuchel had to wait until after last June's amateur draft to get a reasonable offer. He signed with the Braves for $13 million and was 8-8 with a 3.75 ERA and also made 2 playoff starts against St. Louis in the NLDS.
Keuchel kept himself and his arm in shape in Newport Beach, Calif., before joining Atlanta.
"I was throwing every fifth day just like in spring training," he said. "Physically, I was so in shape that I was ready to go but until you get that major-league adrenaline and atmosphere out there, it's tough to duplicate."
When he is able to pitch for the White Sox, Keuchel won't be blowing hitters away with his fastball. The veteran starter relies more on his changeup and sinker to get quick outs.
"Dallas adds a little balance to the rotation because he's obviously not a pure power guy and he's left-handed," Sox general manager Rick Hahn said. "He's a veteran who's been in the postseason (four) of the last five years and has a very cerebral approach to how he gets hitters out."